A Night on the Town
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Mali bus Gao Niamey We reach the border around 4:00pm. I'm granted a visa and allowed to enter Niger. This is such a relief. Up until this moment I've been mentally prepared for being refused entry and having to invent and invoke a plan B itinerary.

After another 100km it's time for prayers. In the fading light I can see there is a tarmac road ahead. Progress will be easier from here but surely we won't be going much further tonight? Being the first significant town we also have another thorough Customs search. All baggage is taken off the roof. The owners are identified and some goods are taken for closer inspection. The bus is reloaded by torchlight.

Three hours later we stop again for another Customs check. We appear to be surrounded by sandy desert. There are no lights for miles around. Passengers sit on the empty tarmac waiting patiently. I've been assured that we will not arrive in Niamey till the morning, so inevitably we're going to have to break the journey somewhere. I am just thinking it wouldn’t be so bad if we have to spend the night here, when we're off again.

We journey on for another 20 minutes. I am hoping we stop either in a town with accommodation and a chance of a meal or in the middle of nowhere where at least we can sleep in the clear desert sand without being disturbed. At 10:40pm the driver stops in a town. He tells me and a couple of other westerners that there is a restaurant in one direction and a bar in the other, but there’s no hotel or guesthouse. We have to report back at 3:00am for a 4:00am departure. No baggage is offloaded. Those with little, exhausted from travelling, simply lie in the dirt, beside the bus, next to the open drainage ditch, and try to sleep. I get something to eat and find a beer but outside it's getting chilly and it seems like all mosquito leave has been cancelled. There is no way I can bring myself to sleep on the roadside.


A Night on the Town
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